The director of Clair Obscur, Guillaume Broche, has recently acknowledged that the title Expedition 33 might be too easy for some players, especially in the final boss fight. During a conversation with Edge magazine, Broche explained that many players chose to complete side content before facing the climax of the game, which led to a combat experience that was less challenging than the team had anticipated.
A game inspired by the classics, also for the bad
The structure of Expedition 33 is inspired by classic RPGs from the PS2 era, such as Final Fantasy 10, where players have the freedom to either advance directly to the final boss or dedicate themselves to exploring additional content. Broche admitted that, while the intention was to allow those focused on the narrative to jump from the end of Act Two directly to the end of the game, it resulted in many players completely surpassing the recommended difficulty levels.
Since the last update, players have discovered ways to inflict extremely high damage, which has impacted the gaming experience. Some users have begun to raise their damage statistics to astronomical figures, reaching tens of billions, something that Broche considers a success in terms of game design. “If you go back and look at Final Fantasy 10, you can take down the final boss in one hit if you’re overpowered,” Broche explained, personalizing the reflection with his own experiences in the genre.
Before the launch, the Sandfall team had modest expectations, betting that Expedition 33 would score around 80 on Metacritic. Despite the challenges in the difficulty of the final combat, Broche and his team feel satisfied with the overall results and their approach to RPGs in the gameplay formula.
